US Intrepid begins pumping brine from potash mine in New Mexico

03 December 2012 22:44[Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--Intrepid Potash has begun pumping brine from its potash mine into the first of its newly constructed solar evaporation ponds near Carlsbad, New Mexico, the US fertilizer company said on Monday.

The process injects non-potable water into its HB Solar Solution mine and deposit the potash-enriched brine into a line pond, Intrepid said. The sun will evaporate the solution, leaving potash to be used as fertilizer.

The HB Solar Solution mine is a $200m-230m (€154m-177m) project that will produce 150,000-200,000 tonnes/year of potash at full capacity.

With the pipeline constructed and development of the water well and evaporation pond underway, production will begin in mid-to-late fourth quarter of 2013, Intrepid said.